Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

No Free Verbenone for P.G. Trees

By 250 News

P.G. home owners hoping to save lodgepole pine from mountain pine beetles, can forget about the verbenone experiment. 

Last summer the City of Prince George conducted a research trial with UNBC and Phero Tech Inc. of Delta, BC. The trial was to test the use of anti-aggregation pheromones in the control of mountain pine beetles within the City and to save as many healthy mature pine as possible from attack by the beetle. A total of 465 residents participated in the experiment. UNBC crews and City staff attached small pouches containing Verbenone to live healthy pine trees, before the main beetle flight.

The mountain pine beetle flight into Prince George during the summer of 2005 was the most severe to date. The pine beetle attacked with intense pressure, attacking all manner of pine, including smaller  and younger  trees.

Prince George was one of three municipal areas in B.C. to take part in the research trial, and  some  success was reported in the other two regions  where the numbers of beetles weren't as great and where  infected trees were removed. But the  experiment didn't work in Prince George.

While the City won't be offering free verbenone  to residents this year as the beetle flight in the Prince George area in 2006 will likely be too severe for anti-aggregating pheromones to be effective.

The City is now  recommending the best ting youcan do is to try notto cause any stress for the pines on your property.

Stress is a scent that attracts beetles, for example if you didn’t water your pine, don’t start watering this year. Any pheromones or scents used on trees during this severe beetle flight may attract beetles and are not recommended. 

As most of the pine in this area are infested, and each infested tree will produce enough beetles to infest 3-8 trees on average, the oversupply of beetles in the 2006 flight will move the “wave of beetles” to the North and East of the City this summer. 



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